House GOP tees up hearing on Trump’s foreign aid overhaul

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing next week on the U.S. Agency for International Development amid the Trump administration’s contentious efforts to shrink the institution, according to a notice obtained by Blue Light News.

The hearing, announced Thursday night to panel members by chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.), is titled “The USAID Betrayal” and is set to examine concerns over U.S. foreign aid policies. The hearing is set for Thursday at 8:30 a.m., and former Florida Republican Rep. Ted Yoho and Bill Steiger, who served as the agency’s chief of staff during the first Trump administration, are set to testify.

The move is unlikely to satisfy Democrats, who have been furious about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle a federally codified agency, calling it unconstitutional and warning of dire humanitarian and geopolitical consequences. The have demanded an urgent hearing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Peter Marocco, State’s director of foreign assistance.

President Donald Trump, urged by Elon Musk, has shut down USAID headquarters, fired contractors and placed employees on leave.

Mast and other Republicans have largely backed Trump on the moves, which include folding USAID into the State Department, accusing the agency of wasteful spending.